Improvement in machinery for printing railroad-tickets



Ntra TATES PATENT irren.

WILLIAM T. GUSHING, `OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO SANFORD, HARROUN 85CO., OF SAME PLAGE.

Y IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY FOR PRINTING RAILROAD-TICKETS.

Specification forming part of Letters PatentNo. 55,201, (lated May 29,1866.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, WILLIAM T. CUsHING, of the city, county, and Stateof NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inMachinery for Printing Railroad -Tickets and other Articles in Two orMore Colors; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact descriptionthereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which-Figure l is a front elevation Fig. 2, a side elevation; Fig. 3, alongitudinal vertical section; and Fig. 4, a section of one of the armsof the rocking shaft by which the inking-rol- 1ers are operated.

The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

My said invention relates to improvements in machinery for printingrailroad-tickets and other articles in two or more colors; and the rstpart of my said invention relates to the machinery for feeding in thestrips of paper or pasteboard, by means of which improvement severalstrips of paper or pasteboard of different thicknesses can be fed intothe machine to print at the same time several series of tickets or otherarticles on paper or pasteboard of different thicknesses 5 and thesecond part of my said invention relates to an improvement in themechanism for operating the inkingrollers by which the ink is applied tothe forms of types.

In the accompanying drawings, a. represents a frame of suitableconstruction, and b, a roller mounted in the front end of the frame, andon which the several strips of paper to be printed are rolled, and fromwhich they are unrolled as required by the feeding operation.

If the printing is to be done on pasteboard so thick that it cannotconveniently be rolled up on a roller the strips may be supplied from atable, in which case the several strips should pass between guides tokeep them at the required distance apart and in line with the forms oftype.

The strips of paper are fed to the printing operation by theintermittent motion of a roller, c, which is so mounted in the frame athatits periphery extends up through a slot in the table d, and slightlyabove the upper surface thereof, and the strips of paper or board arepressed down onto the feed-roller c to give the required bite by meansof a series of pressurerollers, e, one for each strip. Each one of theserollers is mounted in the lower end of a stock, f, which is slotted fromthe upper end down, to embrace and slide up and down on a crossbar, g,of the frame. There is a cap secured to the upper end of the stock,above the bar g, and from the upper edge of said bar projects a screw,l1., that passes through a holein the center of the cap, so that byturning the nut in one direction the stock will be depressed to increasethe pressure of the roller c on the feed-roller to bite the paper, andwhen turned in the opposite direction to permit the stock and its rollerto be lifted by the tension of a spring interposed between the bar g andthe cap of the stock. There are four such pressure-rollers andappendages represented in the accompanying drawings, which is the numberrequired for printing four strips at the same time. The number can beincreased or decreased.

On the shaft of the feed-roller c there is a ratchet-wheel, t', and bythe side of the ratchetwheel a ratchet-lever, j, which turns freely outhe shaft. The leverj is connected by ajointlink, 7c, with abalance-lever, (to be presently described,) which receives motion fromone of the connecting rods which operate the platens of the press, sothat as the platens are being lifted after giving an impression theratchet-lever is vibrated in one direction to turn the feed-roller tothe required extent to feed forward the strips of paper for each suc--ceeding impression. The joint-link 7c, instead of being directlyattached tothe ratchet-lever, is hinged to a block, Z, which is tted toslide on the lever, and which is provided with a temper-screw, so thatit can be shifted and fastened at any required distance from the shafton which the lever vibrates to suit the required range of motionaccording to the size of ticket to be printed.

The press represented in the accompanying drawings is designed forprinting in two colors with two forms of types for each strip of paper.The beds m m of the press, on which the impressions are made, are twoflat plates resting on two sets of adjusting-screws, n,

tapped in flanges o o, projecting inward from the side pieces of theframe, so that they can be separately adjusted to the two series offorms of types, and the two series of forms of types are secured to theunder face of one platen p, instead of two platens, as heretofore usedin machines for printing in two colors. The platen" is secured to ormade part of a cross-head, q, which slides in vertical ways formed inslots in the side frames, and to the ends of the cross-heads are securedvertical bars o o, one at each end, the lower ends of which bars workinguide-brackets s s. These bars have cross-slots t t near their lowerends, in which crank-pins u u on the ends of the main shaft o, work togive the required upand-down motion to the platen.

The weight of the platen and its appendages is balanced byacounter-weight, w, which eX- tends across the whole width of themachine, and is attached to the outer ends of two levers, w w, thatvibrate on stud-pins y y, projecting from the side frames, the innerarms of these levers extending under pins projecting from the innerfaces of the vertical bars W' fr, which are attached to the cross-head.It is one of these levers a: which communicates motion to thefeeding-roller c, before described, the joint-link 7c of theratchet-lever j being connected with one of the said counter-balancelevers There are two hiking-rollers, z e, one front and the other back,so that one can apply ink of one color to one series of forms of types,and the other a different color to the other series of types. Thejournals of these inking-rollers are mounted in the outer ends of rods aa', adapted to slide in the arms b' b of two rockshafts c' o', the saidrods being surrounded by helical springs d within the arms b', thetension of which tends to draw the inking-rollers inward against theouter ends of the arms b b. The shafts of the inkin g-rollers havewheels e e secured near each end, and the platen is formed withguideways f j" near each end, under which the wheels e' c roll as theinkingrollers pass under the forms of types, and the form of these waysis such as to guide the inking-rollers and cause them to travel in theright path for applying ink to the forms of type by the tension of thesprings on the rods a a', which keep the wheels e c against the surfaceof the guideways.

The required motions are given to the rockshafts c c for carrying theinking-rollers from the distributing-rollers g' g of the inkingapparatus under the forms of types and back to the distributingrollersby two levers, h' h', 011e for each rock-shaft, and placed on oppositesides ofthe frame. 'Ihese levers are slotted each to receive a pin, if,projecting from the bars r r on the ends of the platens. To the end ofeach of these levers is hinged the lower end of a rack, j', the cogs ofwhich engage the cogs of a pinion, lo', on one end of eachcorresponding` rock-shaft c. The racks are held 1n gear with the pinionsby springs l.

As the platen is lifted the rockshafts are vibrated to carry theinking-rollers under the forms of type, and as the platen descends togive the impression the rock-shafts are turned in the opposite directionto carry the inking-rollers back to the inkdistributing rollers, andthey are there held to receive the required supply of ink while theplaten remains at rest as the cranks u u on the main shaft pass theirlower dead-points.

By the simple arrangement above described I avoid the use of cams andthe complicated machinery, such as heretofore used for this purpose, togive the required motions to theplatens and the inking-rollers, and atthe same timeI avoid much of the wear and tear heretofore experienced.By making the bedin two or more parts, separately adj ustable-that is,one for each of the series of colors to beprinted- I avoid the necessityof having one platen for each of the series of colors to be printed,with all the connecting mechanism and by the use of a series ofseparately-adjustable pressurerollers in combination with thefeed-roller I am enabled at the same time to print a series of ticketson paper or pasteboard of different thicknesses.

- The numbering-wheels for numbering the tickets are mounted on theplaten, at the back thereof, as at m', and the shears for cutting offthe tickets from the strips after they are printed and numbered aremounted, as heretofore, at the back of the frame. The fixed blade n' isattached to the back of the frame, and the movable blade p is hinged atone end to the frame, and the other end is connected by a rod, q', witha lever, r', which is acted upon by acam, s', on the main shaft, todepress the blade and shear off the printed tickets. After the passageof the cam the blade is forced up by the tension of a helical spring,t', on a rod, u.

The drivin g-shaft e is provided with a fast and loose pulley, w', andmotion is communicated from this shaft to the main shaft by the pinionand cog wheel w y; and motion is also communicated from the shaft o tothe distributing-roller g of one inking apparatus by a band, z', andfrom this to the other inking apparatus'by another band, a2.

I am aware that machines have been made and are now used for the purposeof printing railroad-tickets in two different colors by means of twoforms of type 5 but such machines are made with two separate andindependent platens, each provided with a separate mechanism foroperating it, the motions of each platen an d correspondinginking-roller being derived from a` separate pair of cams of peculiarform, which areliable to wear, and the wear of which requiresreadjustment.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent inmachinery for printing railroad-tickets and other articles, is

l. The, feeding-roller, substantially as described, in combination witha series of pressl nre-rollers on separate adjustable stocks, subwherebythe two series of impressions are obstantially as described, wherebytickets of diftained by the movement of one platen alone.

ferent thicknesses can be printed at the same time and by the samemachine. W T' CUSHING' 2. The one platen for receiving two series ofWitnesses:

forms of types, in combination with two ad- WM. H. BISHOP,

justable beds, substantially as described, ANDREW DE LACY,

